Cluster Size of Amylopectin and Nanosized Amylopectin Fragments Characterized by Pyrene Excimer Formation

oleh: Damin Kim, Jean Duhamel

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-08-01

Deskripsi

Amylopectin from waxy corn and the three nanosized amylopectin fragments (NAFs)—NAF(56), NAF(20), and NAF(8)—from waxy corn starch with a hydrodynamic diameter of 227, 56, 20, and 8 nm, respectively, were randomly labeled with 1-pyrenebutyric acid. The efficiency of these pyrene-labeled amylopectin-based polysaccharides (Py-A<i>b</i>PS) for pyrene excimer formation (PEF) upon diffusive encounter between an excited and a ground-state pyrene increased with increasing concentration of unlabeled NAF(56) in Py-A<i>b</i>PS dispersions in DMSO. Fluorescence decay analysis of the Py-A<i>b</i>PS dispersions in DMSO prepared with increasing [NAF(56)] yielded the maximum number (<i>N</i><sub>blob</sub><sup>exp</sup>) of anhydroglucose units (AGUs) separating two pyrene-labeled AGUs while still allowing PEF. Comparison of <i>N</i><sub>blob</sub><sup>exp</sup> with <i>N</i><sub>blob</sub><sup>theo</sup>, obtained by conducting molecular mechanics optimizations on helical oligosaccharide constructs with HyperChem, led to a relationship between the interhelical distance (<i>d</i><sub>h-h</sub>) in a cluster of oligosaccharide helices, [NAF(56)], and the number of helices in a cluster. It was found that the A<i>b</i>PSs were composed of building blocks made of 3.5 (±0.9) helices that self-assembled into increasingly larger clusters with increasing [NAF(56)]. The ability of PEF-based experiments to yield the cluster size of A<i>b</i>PSs provides a new experimental means to probe the interior of A<i>b</i>PSs at the molecular level.